Screw family honor :Kaoru Love story
by ImmortalTearz
Summary: Some people took my original summary the wrong way and I can see how they thought that. Okay, this is the first thing I've wrote in public EVER. I don't know if I am any good. I don't know if my artistic talents are that great and I really don't see myself as a better writer than any of the people I've read. I just got bored is all. I am amateurish at best, so please critique me.
1. Chapter 1: The assignment

**Name: Lily Makutoshi First, Last**

**Age: 16**

**Gender: female**

**Grade:10**

**Strong Subjects: Martial arts, pretty much anything analytical**

**Hair: Long raven colored hair**

**Eyes: Ice blue eyes that look like they could pierce anything**

**Other: She was raised to fight. Morning, noon , and night she had to learn everything there is to know about martial arts. The point is a family** **rivalry with the Haninozuka clan. Since before she could remember, her family has been trying to surpass them. So much so, that they sometimes work the students to death. Lily had showed a natural talent for the martial arts and because of this she didn't have a very loving upbringing. Due to the fact that she didn't have much of a family life, she is cold and detached and only focuses on the goal at hand. Over the course of her life, she mastered many martial arts and is now rumored to even surpass Mitsukuni Haninozuka. Along the way, however, she had gained many enemies; ones that are bent on destroying her and everything she holds dear.**

**Chapter 1: The assignment**  
"We are enrolling you at Ouran Academy. There you will get close to Mitsukuni Haninozuka to better understand him and his flaws. A tournament will be held when he is ready to graduate, is that understood."

I stared at the man before me, the man known as my father, the man who has trained and conditioned me my whole life.

"Yes sir." I replied without delay, keeping my form and not looking away from him. "Will he know of me?"

"The rules we made up with the Haninozuka clan are that you will both be aware of each other and you both will study each other."

"Conditions?"

"Don't get too close to him, but of course you already knew that. However, there is to be no hand to hand combat until the tournament. A car is waiting for you outside to take you to the Academy. Do not fail me, daughter."

"I won't." was all I said as I bowed and exited the room.

"Remember, Lily. You are the best of the best! Do not dishonor your family!" he called as I closed the door. Honor...the only real thing my family ever cared about. More so than even their flesh and blood. It...sickened me.

I was chaufeured to the academy and was handed a note along with my schedule. It read as follows:  
Due to the fact that you are younger than Mitsukuni, you are not in the same class as  
him. However, he spends most of his free time in a club known as the host club. We managed to persuade them to allow you to join as part of the challenge. This is where you will study eachother.

So this host club was to be the place that I will learn everything there is to know about Mitsukuni...why would an academy have a host club and why would an elite fighter like Mitsukuni even take part in it?

My first impression of the place was that it was pompous and arrogant. The place was dripping with over priced materials and objects and everything was polished and new. The chandliers were big and over abundant and the color of the stone was revolting. All in all, a place for rich snobby kids. I myself was rich but I knew how to control frivolous urges such as the need for fancy things.

I was lead to the principals office where I was told that Kyoya Ohtori would give me a tour of the campus. He was one of Mitsukuni's friends and no doubt knew the situation. I could just tell by the way he held himself that he was an intellectual man and cared about his little group of friends. We were walking one of the corridors when I brought it up to him.

"No doubt you know the situation between Mitsukuni and I." I stated with my hands neatly tucked behind my back. He nodded and adjusted his glasses.

"I gathered some information on you and you don't seem to be too overly fond of this situation. In fact, you must hate more than Mitsukuni."

"Indeed."

My heart sank whenever I was forced to fight. Sure I would defend myself and anyone I cared about, but...the fact still remained that it was something I had been forced to do since I was a child. All for what? A family's pride? Shouldn't a child's wants and needs take precedence of that?

"Your classes are with all of his friends. No doubt so that you can get information on him without actually being around him. I must warn you though, no one is taking this situation lightly."

"I know..." I let my eyes fall to the floor. I really didn't want to involve his friends, but apparently that wasn't part of the conditions. This was just revolting...I wasn't going to have it.

"I need your help, Kyoya." I stated out of no-where.

"Help with what?"

I looked him dead in the eye and responded: "I don't want to fight anymore. Not unless it's absolutely necessary. Help me get of my family's mess."

That just brought a simple smile to his face. "Already on it."

I was just astonished by how amazingly brilliant this boy was which also brought a smirk to my face.

We approached classroom 10-A where I would be following the Hitachiin Twins along with a scholarship student that Mitsukuni was friends with. I was supposed to take part in the class work as well as engage friendships with those three.

"They all know of the situation and I also let them know of your current predicament. Welcome to Ouran Academy Lily Makutoshi." and then he just left. I wonder what these three were like...I wonder if we could actually be friends. I've never had friends before...


	2. Chapter 2: An eventful morning

**Chapter 2: An eventful morning**

When I entered room 10-A I happened to be just a few minutes late. All eyes were on me the moment I entered the room and the teacher smiled sweetly at me.

"Oh you must be Makutoshi. Please come and tell us a bit about yourself." she waved over to me. I just blinked at the elderly woman and walked to the head of the classroom. At once I noticed the Hitachiin twins, mostly because of their red hair and mostly because they were the only identical twins in the whole classroom. They just snickered as I caught their gaze which bothered me slightly.

"My name is Lily Makutoshi and my family specializes in martial arts. They wanted me to join ouran academy to finish my training." was all I said before I sat down in an empty seat which happened to be by one of the twins. Once I got them speaking I would be able to tell them apart, but right now they were just a mystery to me. The scholarship student was a girl from the file I was given, but she was dressed as a boy. I raised my eyebrow when I saw her and she just smiled at me. To each their own I guess...

"Hey look, Kaoru, didn't know that a rat would be joining our class." one of the twins, which I deduce to now be Hikaru, snickered. Kaoru just shrugged and sighed.

"Such a tragedy these days."

"You guys do know that she's trying to get out of this crappy situation, right?" the scholarship student, Haruhi, replied. Why was she trying to stick up for me? I was just but a stranger to her and she was treating me like she was one of my friends.

"What if it's just a ploy so she can find out more information about Honey-sempai!" Hikaru wailed and Kaoru nodded. "We can't exactly trust her."

"Kyoya does." she stated flatly which got a baffled look from both of them. Maybe being friends with these guys wasn't going to be an option after all...

Surprisingly, my heart sunk. My heart was so set on finally making friends that I didn't even take into consideration that they may not even like me. Through out the rest the of the class I noticed small, but significant differences in the Hitachiin twins. Together they were diabolical, but apart...

Kaoru didn't have nearly as much mischevious tendincies that Hikaru had. In fact, he was a bit more refined, more mature. Hikaru seemed a bit more rash and angry as well a bit more possessive of Haruhi than Kaoru. Their physical attributes were nealry identical except for the fact that Kaoru was nearly a quarter of an inch taller than Hikaru. To the naked eye, most people couldn't notice it. I, however, was trained to know every single detail about someone and to catch small things such as this.

They caught me looking at them every now and then which made them give me dirty looks and a few crude gestures...

"Cut it out you guys!" Haruhi snapped at them.

"She's studying us, Haruhi!"

"Yeah it's kind of creepy!"

"Well if you would stop being mean to her, she wouldn't have to."

"Tell you what." Hikaru smirked at me.

"Let's play a little game." Kaoru continued.

"If you win..."

"...we won't be mean to you anymore."

Perfectly in sync...intriguing. And this game definitely piqued my interest.

"Alright. What is this game?" I smiled at them, placing my hands neatly beneath my chin while giving a playful look with my icy blue eyes. This got a rather small reaction from Kaoru whose pupils slightly grew larger. He was interested by something I did...

"It's called the guess which one is Hikaru game!"

"If you guess which one is Hikaru..."

"...then we won't be as mean to you anymore."

"But no wild guesses."

"You have to give us some reasoning."

I smirked at them and nodded. "Alright. Shall we do this after class then?"

"No one has ever guessed right you know?"

"Other than Haruhi, that is."

"I believe I can handle it, thank you."

They weren't sure how to react at my boldness. If I wasn't so desperate for some type of friendship with them, I would probably not have taken part in such a frivolous game.

After class we met in the hall way and they placed hats neatly on their head in order to cover their parts. That's when they began shuffling about, their grins growing only bigger by the second. This started gaining a crowd, mostly mewling quims. They really were childish, weren't they?

"Now guess wh-"

"The one on the left is Kaoru and the right is Hikaru. My reasoning is that Kaoru is about a quarter of an inch taller and your stances suggest things of your personality such as Hikaru is a bit more mischevious." I explained before they could even finish their sentence. This baffled everyone especially the Hitachiin twins.

"You're..."

"...right."

I just smirked and simply walked away, giving them a small wave.

"See you in the next class." I called behind me.  
****Kaoru's P.O.V****  
I just stood there incredibly blown away by what just happened.

"Kaoru...we have to be nice to her now." Hikaru stated flatly.

"Yeah, but would that be so bad?" I replied.

"What happens if she really is trying to hurt Honey-sempai."

"I doubt Kyoya-sempai would let that happen."  
Lily Makutoshi...she was a really interesting person. Maybe we should give her a chance and for the second time ever, someone has stepped into our world.

"So, what now?" Hikaru asked me.

"We...go to class I guess. We can't be too mean to her now."

"We never specified how mean, though."

A grin spread right across my face.  
"No, we didn't did we?"


	3. Chapter 3: Winning their Hearts

**Chapter 3: Winning their hearts**

So the twins weren't quite as nice as I had thought they would be, but they did follow through with our deal. Plus, we all started to get along quite well even though I barely said a word the whole day. I just observed, nodded, maybe placed a smirk here and there, but other than that I was fine. The twins were being more mischievous than mean at this point which was slightly amusing. The drabbled on about how they wanted to go to the commoner's market after class which Haruhi did not like one bit from the looks of things.

"For the last time no!" she snapped at them. School was finally over and we were all headed to the host club. I just walked patiently behind the trio, but I had to stop when the twins gave me the most diabolical of looks anyone could give.

"So, Lily…"

"…have you ever been to a commoner's market?"

I blinked my stupor away and shook my head. "Can't say that I have."

"Haruhi, we can't let Lily miss out on this experience. I bet boss will be more than pleased to take her."

A vein started protruding from Haruhi's forehead while her hand was clenching in a fist.

"Lily-chan!" I heard a boyish squeal behind me and before I could react something hit me with enough force that it twirled me around and made me lose my footing. I fell to the floor with a great big 'UMPH' and my belongings flew through the air.

"Whoops. Sorry!"

I looked over to see Haninozuka giggling slightly while clutching a stuffed toy in one hand. This…boy…was he really an elite fighter? It looks like he wouldn't hurt even a fly…

A tall broad fellow walked up behind him, glaring at me with the deadliest look he could muster. This must be Takashi Morinozuka, Haninozuka's servant of sorts. A hand reached out to me and I looked over to see a grinning Kaoru.

"Some elite fighter. You didn't even see that coming!"

That was entirely true and it left me a little on edge. I lightly grasped his hand and he helped me up off the floor.

"Thank you." I murmured completely surprised by what just happened within only a few moments. Why did Haninozuka treat me as if I was his friend? And why did Kaoru just give me a helping hand? Even now, he was picking up my stuff and handing it to me.

"Look at her! She's so baffled that she doesn't even know what to do!" Hikaru laughed wildly.

"So, this is the infamous Lily Makutoshi." A golden haired boy emerged from behind a door followed by Kyoya. This must be Tamaki Suoh.

"Why such beauty! You remind of a rare blue rose trapped within the icy grips of hate longing for love to bring you warmth and free you from your prison." He grasped my hand and brought his lips tenderly to it. "My flowery maiden, maybe I shall be the one to unfreeze your soul."

"Well you're just arrogant now aren't you?" I whisked my hand back and just gave him a stoic gaze. Without a doubt, this was the infamous Tamaki. The twins burst out laughing when I rejected his advance and it seemed Tamaki just sulked away into the shadows.

"Arrogant!?" he wailed.

"So, we were just talking about taking Lily to the commoner's market." Kaoru grabbed my arm and Hikaru grabbed the other.

"Yeah, she's never been there before."

"Why what an excellent idea!" Tamaki bounced back up and grabbed Haruhi. "C'mon Haruhi! Daddy wants to go shopping with you!"

And off they went.

"It seems that I will have to bring our guests there with us." Kyoya sighed and started writing down on his clipboard. "Honestly, when will he ever learn?"

"Kay, let's go!" both the twins yelled and whisked me away before I could even say another word. Along the way somehow they all got us to change from our school attire to casual attire. Haruhi was still wearing boyish shorts and shirt while, somehow, they had stuck me in really mini shorts and a tight fitting t-shirt. All of this was still designer clothing despite the simplicity.

"Yay! We've got a new toy!" the twins cheered. I sighed a heavy sigh knowing fully well this wasn't going to be easy for me. A bunch of young maidens surrounded Tamaki as he was whispering sweet nothings into their ears. Another bunch even pulled Haruhi into a different direction towards what looked to be a shady part of town. Eventually the twins got surrounded and I got to witness first hand their "brotherly love" act that got all the girls squealing. Above their racket I managed to hear five terrified screams followed by Haruhi yelling. Jumping into action, I quickly sped over to them to find that two men were trying to grope the group of girls and another one man had Haruhi hanging by the throat. Without a moment's hesitation, I grasped the male holding Haruhi roughly by the wrist and heard several bones give way. He cried out in pain while dropping Haruhi to the concrete ground. Before the other two men could react, I round house kicked one in the face and punched the other in the gut so hard that they went flying. Now, mind you, they had stuck me in heels, so the one that I had kicked ended up with a nasty gash on his face.

"Are you all alright?" I asked them. The group of girls was clutching each other, sobbing softly but they managed to give me a small nod.

"Haruhi?" I knelt down beside her and helped her to her feet.

"Why did you help us?" she rasped, rubbing her injured throat.

"Because, despite everything, you had showed me kindness when no one else did. For that I am in your debt." I bowed to her and by that point all the boys had found their way over to us.

"That was amazing, Lily-chan!" Haninozuka cheered giving me the biggest hug he could muster.

"You really think so, Haninozuka?" I asked, a little taken aback. The great Haninozuka thought my fighting was amazing?

"Don't call me that! My friends call me Honey-sempai." He smiled at me. "And of course! You just saved Haruhi."

I looked over at all the group of men who were all smiling at me, save Tamaki who was busy doting over Haruhi.

"You are now an official member of the host club!" Kaoru grinned, placing an arm on my shoulder. An official member? Were they all accepting me now? I looked at Morinozuka and he didn't seem so angry anymore. His eyes were softer and he gave me a small nod.

"But don't think you are getting out of being our toy." Hikaru grinned at me. Was this what it was like to have friends? I certainly hoped so because for the first time in my life my heart felt light.


	4. Chapter 4: Budding Feelings

**Chapter 4: Budding feelings**

Even though I thought I handled the situation at school very well, my father did not. He somehow found out about my ideals of a non-fighting relationship with Haninozuka and was not very pleased to say the least.

"How dare you defy your family in this way!" he hissed, smashing a metal bar across my face. I fell to the floor pretty hard, but I didn't let out a whimper knowing fully well that he would strike once more. He then grabbed me by the throat and threw me to two guards.

"Give her 100 lashes and throw her in the stalls for the night. Maybe that will teach her some manners." He ordered them. I did not fight; I just allowed them to carry me away to get my punishment. I knew from the beginning this would happen I just don't know how he figured out about it so soon. Did Haninozuka tell his family and did his family tell my family? If so, that would mean he never really was my friend after all…

The next day my father faced me before I left for the academy. My back was still stinging from last night's punishment and my face was already bruised and swollen. I covered it up as best as I could, but I couldn't hide it well enough.

"You will continue with your assignment. You will do as was planned and you will not think up any crazy ideas of abandoning this assignment of yours. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir." I bowed to him, nearly wincing at the pain it caused my back.

"Good. Now go."

I left, my soul weeping at my current predicament. At the academy, I managed to run into Kaoru at the courtyard without Hikaru by his side. Wonder where that one went to…

"Hiya Lily—whoa. What happened to your face?"

I lightly touched my cheek, just now remembering the bruise.

"It's nothing." I said, turning my face away from him.

"That doesn't look like nothing." He said, grasping my chin with his hand. He brought his face closer to mine in order to inspect it a little more closely and that's when he saw the sorrow wallowing in my eyes. "It was your family wasn't it? They found out didn't they?"

I slapped his hand away and turned to go but he grabbed me before I could take a step further.

"Hey now. I am just trying to help you."

"How?! By causing me more trouble? The only ones who knew were your little groups of friends."

"Well I can assure you it was none of us, Lily. I promise you that."

He looked at me solemnly and brushed a hand across my swollen cheek. I stared into his eyes and could see that he was sincere; at least he was telling the truth. We seemed to be locked in each other's gazes and my heart all of a sudden seemed to flutter.

"Thank you, Kaoru." I thanked him softly and he gave me a small smile.

"No problem." And to my surprise, he gave me a hug. That got my blood running hot so much so that my face even flushed a little. "Lily, you're one of our friends now and we will do anything to help you."

The moment was broken by a wailing Haninozuka. Kaoru pulled away from me and not a moment later Haninozuka took his place.

"I am so sorry, Lily! It was my fault! I didn't mean it!" he cried, burying his face in my shirt.

"Huh?"

"He let slip about your plan." Morinozuka stated as he walked up. I glared at Kaoru and he just waved his hands in front his face.

"I swear to you I didn't lie to you! I didn't think Honey would actually tell anybody!"

"I am so sorry, Lily! It was an accident. I was talking to Usa-chan when somebody overheard us talking about it!" Haninozuka sniffled.

"Who is Usa?"

"His stuffed rabbit." Morinozuka replied without delay. I nearly fell over for how completely dumb this situation actually was. I was beyond angry at this point, but when I looked at Haninozuka's sad little face, all my anger faded away.

"I forgive you Haninozuka." I told him. "I mean Honey-senpai."

"R-really?" he asked with such an innocent looking face that I couldn't help but smile.

"Really."

"Well look at this happy gathering." Hikaru popped up out of no-where and decided to play fully smack me in the back.

"Gah!" I winced when a searing pain coursed through my entire body. It felt like my back was engulfed in flames at this point and I couldn't hide how much pain I was really in any longer.

"Gee, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you that hard." Hikaru rubbed the back of his head, not quite sure what to make of the situation. "And what happened to your face?"

"No doubt a form of punishment enforced by her family." Kyoya walked up and took a good hard look at me. "By the way you reacted from Hikaru's smack it's not hard to guess that you were lashed as well."

"Lashed?" everyone seemed completely ignorant to what that really meant.

"She was punished by them using a form of whip on her back. Normal lashings are 20-30 count. Something as severe as she did could cause a bigger amount." He explained.

"Oh no! I am so sorry, Lily-chan!" Honey-senpai wailed once more and buried his face in my shirt again. Oh dear…

I looked over to Kaoru for help, but the look he gave me…it was as if he was deeply concerned for me. That's when Haruhi and Tamaki joined the little group, both wondering why there was a crying Honey latched to my shirt.

"I'm okay, Honey-senpai. Really, I am." I tried to reassure him, but I never really was good at this kind of stuff. Feelings weren't exactly my strong suit and I wasn't sure in the least how to handle this situation. Eventually, Morinozuka took him away and we all left for class.

Throughout the day I kept getting strange looks from the rest of the students, all whispering whenever they saw my face. I could ignore it easily; I was used to it. However, Kaoru seemed completely annoyed by it.

"Can't people mind their own business." He hissed.

"Whoa. What's got you all angry?" Hikaru asked him.

"Don't tell me you're not bothered by the fact that people are gossiping about Lily."

"Well maybe a little, but not as much as you. She's the one with the messed up face and she doesn't seem to be that bothered either."

"It's okay, Kaoru. I really could care less what other people think." I told him. Although, the fact that he was getting upset over me being gossiped about was actually making me slightly happy. I locked his gaze with mine and saw in his eyes more feelings than I had ever witnessed within someone.

****Kaoru's P.O.V****

I don't know why my heart wrenched whenever I thought of Lily getting beat so badly. I was friends with everyone else, but never have I felt such strong feelings for someone other than Hikaru. I haven't even known her for that long…was it the fact that she was one of very very few that stepped passed the barrier Hikaru and I set up? Or is it much more?


	5. Chapter 5: The new form of host

**Chapter 5: The new form of host**

"She's a what now?!" Kaoru and Hikaru exclaimed at the same time.

"A female host. I've been trying to figure out how to widen our field to include men, but women are usually unable to fend for themselves. Lily here has the looks that men crave and she certainly knows how to protect herself. Let's just say she's our guinea pig until we can figure out how to incorporate more women in the future." Kyoya explained while jotting away on his clipboard.

I just sat there with the most baffled look on my face. Me as a host? Me? I don't even understand my own feelings…to be able to entertain a lonely man would be extremely difficult for me.

"Soooo, she's a hostess?"

"Precisely. Today's theme is Ancient greek. Your costumes are in the back. Boss is already trying to get Haruhi into hers."

"So we get to dress in a toga?" the twins grinned.

"Toga, toga, toga!" Honey-senpai sang as he pranced to the dressing room with Mori-senpai right behind him. The twins were busy discussing their act as they walked their way over as well.

"Yours is back there too, Lily."

I seriously thought he had been joking up until that point.

"You can't be serious. Me as a hostess? Did you even think that through? I certainly do not know how to act for the part." I told him.

"Just act like you normally would if you were trying to get information from someone. I know you had that training. Entice them, seduce them, amuse them, do whatever you do that doesn't involve violence."

"I'd usually just bludgeon someone to death." I muttered.

"Don't tell me you've never been undercover. I have evidence that suggests otherwise. Now go put your costume on."

I cursed under my breath and walked over to the dressing room.

What I saw was a really short greek style dress that had a golden belt around the waist. My eye twitched at the pure skimpiness of the outfit. What am I now, a stripper? I decided I better not fight it; I had to at least look like I was trying to get information about Honey-senpai and fulfill my duty my family had ordered of me. So I put on the crazy dress, donned my golden sandals that tied all the way up to just below my knees, and placed the ivy circlet neatly on my head. It was then that I noticed that the sandals weren't sandals at all, they had heels. Now I really did feel like a stripper. I emerged from the dressing room, feeling very exposed and irritated. I accidentally bumped into Kaoru on my way out and the looks he gave me was priceless. His eyes were wide with wonder and a slight blush crossed his face.

"Wow. You look good." He commented. Hikaru popped up beside him and nearly fell over laughing at the sight of me.

"You look like a stripper!"

I frowned knowing fully well I did and that I couldn't get out of this mess. Haruhi was actually wearing a goddess outfit which fit the theme way better than my attire. I was so envious of her at this point that it truly was laughable.

"I think Lily-chan looks pretty." Honey-senpai stated and pranced back out to the main room.

"Now, Lily, whatever you do, don't scare away our guests. You are here to please them, not beat them." Tamaki instructed. I groaned my displeasure and walked back out as well. Turns out there were plenty of guys there I had to entertain which did not ease my dissatisfaction about this situation one bit. Well here goes nothing…

****Kaoru P.O.V****

Lily was a natural! Every now and then I had glanced over to see how she was doing and saw that she had the entire group of guys enticed. The way she moved was so fluid, and the way she talked was seductive yet constrained. She did simple things, like give a man a brush of her hand on his, or a playful, seductive smile that truly made her look like she was the goddess Aphrodite. I felt strangely jealous…

At one point, one of the guys thought he would get bold and try to grab her upper thigh, but she slyly bat it away and acted like nothing had happened. The guy was stunned and from the look of his hand she hit it pretty hard. It sure didn't look like she did. I had almost got up to say something, but I saw she had a handle on things.

****Lily P.O.V****

By the end of the day I had managed to get plenty of requests which made Kyoya certainly happy.

"Told you that you could do it." He smiled and went on his merry way.

"That was wonderful, Lily! Papa is so proud!" Tamaki cheered. He was about to give me a hug, but I pushed him away. I looked over at Kaoru who seemed oddly annoyed.

"What's the matter Kaoru?" I asked him.

"It's nothing." He muttered and turned away. Was he jealous? I managed to pull him aside when everyone else was busy talking about tomorrow's grand plan.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"I'm fine."

He seemed slightly annoyed which I didn't quite understand.

"Kaoru, I really don't understand why you are acting like this."

"Yeah, well that makes two of us." He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry. I just can't seem to get a grip on my feelings today."

I looked him in the eyes and saw that he was truly troubled. As I studied him I hadn't realized how close our faces actually were which ended up making us both blush slightly. All of a sudden, something slammed into back, which is still sore I might add, which shoved my face on his. Our lips crushed together and the force sent us both to the floor. We both pulled away in shock, our faces beet red and my heart was pounding harder than it ever had before. I looked over to see Hikaru on the floor with a banana peel a few feet away from him. Had he actually slipped on a banana peel? Everyone was laughing by that point, mostly because of mine and Kaoru's faces. What I couldn't get over was the fact that I had actually liked the accidental kiss…


	6. Chapter 6: The question

**Chapter 6: The question**

A month had passes since my family enforced this assignment on me and I somehow became a hostess. During that month, my father made a daily ritual of lashing me to keep me in line once the old wounds as healed. No matter how many times I was lashed, I could not get over the immense pain that it always caused me. Once I was even reduced to tears, but I did not dare to cry in front of anyone. I was huddled in a remote place at the academy where I thought no one roamed. Turns out Kaoru and Hikaru make a daily habit of wandering the area and thinking up new schemes. Kaoru was the one who found me curled up in a corner.

"Lily?" he seemed surprised to see me. I quickly tried to wipe away the tears, but he caught my hand.

"What's wrong?"

"Why is it that you always seem to be around when I'm at my lowest?" I sniffled, turning my face away in shame.

"Well maybe it's a good thing. Seems like you could use a friend right about now." He plopped down next to me.

"Hey Hikaru! Go on ahead! I'm gonna be a minute!" he called.

"HAI!" I heard from the other room.

"Now, tell me what's wrong."

I just looked at him trying so hard not to let anymore tears shed. I couldn't even bring myself to tell him what was wrong with me. He saw how hard this really was for me and placed an arm around my shoulder, squeezing gently.

"Is it your family?"

I could only nod. It seemed words were escaping me today…

"Are they still punishing you?" he asked, even more concerned. When I didn't answer, he placed his forefinger underneath my chin and lifted my head.

"Lily, please. I am trying to help you."

I gazed into his beautiful amber eyes seeing the most concern anyone has ever showed for me before.

"I'm pitiful." I told him

"Why? Because you're human?"

"Because I'm weak. I should not be reduced to tears."

"What happened Lily?"

It took me a few moments to gather my thoughts, but eventually I explained to him what has been happening. I explained the way my father had me lashed whenever my wounds had healed and then stuck me in the stalls for the night. Kaoru's brow furrowed in distress and then pulled me into a tight hug, while carefully not touching my back.

"I am here for you, Lily. I wish I could help you more, but…"

"I know. My family is way too powerful." I pulled away so that I could look at him. Just knowing that he was there for me was enough for me to regain my composure. I gave him a small smile while he gently caressed my cheek. We sat like that for a few minutes before I finally said:

"We should get to class."

We got there just in the nick of time, but it turns out that the lectures were replaced by the planning of some masquerade ball.

"How could we have forgotten about the masquerade ball?!" Hikaru smacked his forehead.

"I know! We've only been planning this trick for a year now!" Kaoru exclaimed.

I raised my eyebrow, but then thought about it. This was the Hitachiin twins; they were notorious tricksters and a masquerade ball would be a perfect place for them to do their work. My thoughts were occupied by those few stolen moments with Kaoru earlier that day that I barely put any effort into planning. The class busily chatted away while I just spaced out completely.

"Earth to Lily! Hello!" Hikaru waved a hand in front of my face and grinned. "You seem distracted. Thinking about a special someone?"

I glanced over at Kaoru who was flailing his arms around, trying to express his crazy ideas. A smile crossed my face when I caught his gaze and he smiled back.

"Yeah. You could say that." I replied.

The plans went by rather quickly and the rest of the day was left for the students to have the day off. They would have to decorate all week next week because the plans happened to be that big. I was on my way back home, deciding to skip the host club today due to the fact that I was still in pain. I told Haruhi a very vague explanation and was on my way out when Hikaru stopped me.

"So, you have a thing for my brother, don't you?"

"I-uh-what?" I was completely taken aback by his comment.

"Don't play coy. I see the way you've been looking at him." He grinned a very evil grin, grabbed my arm, and threw me right into Kaoru. Both of us tumbled to the floor our lips nearly touching again.

"Whoops! My bad." Hikaru cackled. Haruhi came up behind him and walloped him really hard on the head. While they bickered about that, Kaoru and I untangled ourselves while I got some seriously jealous looks from some girls.

"Sorry about that." I mumbled, rubbing the back of my head.

"Nah, it's ok. I should be the one who's sorry. My brother was the idiot, not you. Is your back ok?"

"Yeah. I think so." The tumbled seemed to have strained it a little and I could feel the skin beginning to tear again. I would have to change the bandage when I got back…

" Hey I wanted to ask you something." He said out of nowhere. I looked up at him, seeing the troubled look he had on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Oh nothing." He looked me straight in the eye and smiled. "I was just trying to figure out how to ask you if you wanted to be my date to the dance."

:D


	7. Chapter 7: Masquerade

**Chapter 7: Masquerade**

I put off answering Kaoru due to the fact that I wasn't even sure I could go. I told him as much and he ended up telling the host club…

"But you have to go, Lily-chan!" Honey-senpai pouted when I walked into the abandoned music room. It happened to be the day of the dance and I still wasn't sure I could go. I asked my father, but he just waved me away each time.

"I do want to…"I replied glancing over at Kaoru. "…but my family might think it an embarrassment."

"Not quite. I have contacted the authorities of your household and told them it was a requirement for you to go if you wanted to remain a member of the host club." Kyoya spoke up, still messing around with his clipboard. At first I was baffled and looked it as well. The rest, however cheered. They twirled me around and the twins seemed twice as happy. I could understand how Kaoru would be happy, but Hikaru?

"I so wanted to put you in that gown!" Hikaru pulled a ball gown out of no-where which was extremely extravagant. The top of the dress was teal with flowers embroidered on the side with the finest of jewels. It just hung off the shoulders and billowed out in a different color, which was deep ebony black. A simple yellow bow was placed beneath the embroidery, holding up a ruffle of sky blue silk fabric. It really was lovely and the mask that went with it was just as extravagant. So I really was just Hikaru's toy…

"Thank you, Kyoya." I told him, but he just waved me off.

"Don't take it personally. I only did it because I already auctioned off dance tickets for you." He replied. Of course. Kyoya was always thinking of a profit; why should I think anything less? Kaoru pulled me aside while the others were trying to get Hikaru into her gown. She was refusing the whole time and wanted to get in the male attire instead. I couldn't blame her either; it was crazier looking than mine.

"So…" he blushed, not quite sure what to say. I don't think he's ever really opened up to someone before besides Hikaru. I hadn't really given it much thought, but I already knew they answer.

"Of course." I smiled at him. His face broke into a huge smile while he gave me a tight embrace.

"Don't think you're getting out of wearing that gown just because you are Kaoru's date for the dance." Hikaru popped up and waggled his finger in front of my face.

"Haruhi, will you do me the honors of being my date?" Tamaki bowed in front of her.

"No way." She stated flatly. That made him freak out and ended wallowing in a corner once again.

"My date is Usa-chan!" Honey announced, already dressed and ready to go.

"How long do we have until the dance?" I asked.

"About an hour or two. Just enough time to mess around with you." Hikaru cackled and threw me into the dressing room. Oh dear…

All of us were ready to go within the hour, all dressed in pompous arrogant clothing. My dress happened to be really heavy and they also stuck me in Victorian style heels. This was incredibly awkward for so I wasn't entirely sure how to handle it. Kaoru grasped my hand in his and smiled at me.

"You'll be fine." He said.

Part of my undercover training entailed that I had to know how to dance, but never have I danced in such unusual wear before.

Half the night I couldn't even spend with Kaoru; we were whisked away to fulfill our auctioned off dances. Of course I entertained the men like I was supposed to, but I secretly wanted to be with Kaoru. We stole some moments, sometimes just looking at each other. The silence didn't even feel awkward, it just felt like no words needed to express how we felt. By the end of the evening, though, we managed to get one dance with each other. It happened to be outside, away from the crowd, among the garden. The moonlight was lovely and the night air was crisp and cool. We danced slowly to the classical music that was playing inside, our movements perfectly in tune.

"Hey Lily."

"Yeah?" I looked up at him and he said nothing. All he did was place a firm kiss on my lips. At first I was quite startled, but I eventually melted into the kiss. Our hands were clutching, grasping, clinging, trying to get ahold of one another. This reaction was due to the built up feelings we had towards one another and now it was over flowing. Our tongues danced in our mouths, tasting every crevice.

"What is the meaning of this?"

I broke away with a gasp to see my father standing in the shadows.

"I thought it was slightly awkward that you would be needed at this type of event. Now I know it was just a ploy by your friends, so that you can whore about. You are a disgrace, Lily." He growled at me, making it very apparent that he was very displeased.

"Father, I am sorry." I bowed deeply, my face still flushed from the kiss.

"On the contraire, sir Makutoshi. My intentions were never personal." Kyoya popped up out of no-where and handed him his clipboard. "My intentions were never personal. You see, I have been struggling with trying to incorporate an able bodied hostess into our club. Lily is a very good candidate for this and her being part of this club is more or less an experiment. You wanted her to be part of this club and I am making her a part of this club. See how much profit we have gotten just by her attending this dance and entertaining some clients. All in all, I am more interested in the profits she brings than her personal relations with others. The fact that this is going on just might bring in some more profit. Jealousy of others can be very strong and they will all flock to the host club to try to gain back either of their attention. To put simply, Lily is an asset to this club. And besides, if I were trying to get more information on a subject, I would certainly get closer to one of their friends. Having personal relations with one of his best friends would benefit you as well as me."

I was just baffled by the fact that Kyoya just basically told off my father. No one has ever done that before…

"Humph." He shoved the clipboard back to Kyoya and left the courtyard in an angry stride.

"Don't go flaunting your feelings like that. It may just put us in more trouble." Kyoya commented and left.

"Well I don't regret it. Do you?" Kaoru smiled at me.

"No. Matter of fact, I don't."


	8. Chapter 8: Enemies

**Sorry everyone. I have been planning my wedding, graduating from college, and finding a job, so I haven't had much time to myself. I really am trying to write more though **

**Chapter 8: Enemies**

I thought, for just a moment, that perhaps Kyoya may have spared me from any more pain; I was wrong. The lashings go more severe, I was not able to have dinner, and I spent more evenings in the stalls. I went to school acting as if nothing had happened, but everyone could see the bruises and the fact that I was losing a major amount of weight. Kyoya told all the men that had requested me that I would not be available for some time. Kaoru was glued to my side and would not let me leave when the day was all said and done.

"You can't continue like this, Lily-chan." Honey-senpai wailed.

"What else do I do?" I sighed, heading home.

Right as I arrived, I got my daily lashings. However, when I was being dragged out to the stalls, a rather fancy car rolled into my drive. We never got visitors, so this was strange. That was when Kaoru busted out of the car with Hikaru following close behind him. They both attacked the men that were dragging me and Kyoya helped me to my feet. The rest of the host club gathered by my side and shielded me from view.

"What is going on?" I asked, rather baffled.

"I'd like to ask the same thing." My father huffed his way over to us and blanched at the sight of Honey-senpai.

"How am I going to have a proper challenge if you keep hurting her?" he asked my father. He sounded more mature than ever before and his eyes looked dead and cold.

"E-excuse me?" my father's face ran hot.

"You want me to challenge her. Well I can't fight someone who is not in proper shape. It would be shameful."

"So…you forfeit?"

"No. That would be shameful as well. I am instructing you of what my family has told me. If you continue to treat Lily-chan in this way, I will be forced take matters into my own hands."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning my taskforce will arrest you for child abuse charges and the Haninozuka clan will no longer view your family as worthy fighters. You will be viewed as outsiders and shunned with in the martial arts world." Kyoya cut in, adjusting his glasses. "Believe me, we can make that happen."

"In the meantime, Lily will be staying at my place until you have proven that you will no longer beat your children." Honey-senpai glared at him and then smiled sweetly up at me. "C'mon Lily-chan! When we get back, we can eat some cake!"  
A wave of emotion washed over me. It was so powerful that I could no longer keep it within me; I burst into tears and clutched Kaoru.

"Such a shameful display." My father spat, but then looked down at Haninozuka. "Fine. I will discuss these matters with my clan immediately."  
Kaoru helped me to the car, the others close behind. Haruhi sat beside me and placed a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"Everything will okay now." She said softly. I hiccupped slightly and nodded my head while still clutching to Kaoru.

"How much worse is your back?" Tamaki asked.

"From the look of her shirt, I'd say they increased the lashes by 20. That would put you at 120 lashes, correct?"

"Yes."

"How can you take that?" Hikaru cried.

"It's the way it has always been."

"Well no longer! I saved you Lily-chan!" Honey-senpai smiled. Yes…I believed that at the time.  
Unfortunately, being an elite fighter, I had gained many enemies. Some were bent on destroying me. One watched my little group of friends and finally knew my weakness.

"Lily…soon you will meet your downfall."


	9. Chapter 9 : Disaster

**Chapter 9: Disaster**

Staying at Honey-senpai's was awkward, to say the least. I thought they would be cold to me because of the challenge, but they were all warm and open. When I told them of their training methods and all the forms of punishment, they all just looked shocked and disgusted. To me it was a normal thing and I thought the Haninozuka clan did it as well. Turns it out it wasn't normal and I was a victim of horrible abuse.

"They bring shame to the Martial arts world." Honey-senpai's brother snarled.

"It's really that horrible? I thought it was normal?" I asked them.

"Nothing that you told me was normal in the least. I am going to talk to the Kyoya's." his father announced and off he went.

The host club came to visit regularly, but something was wrong…

I always felt as if someone was watching us…

Kaoru pulled me away from the group one day and took me outside to the garden. My feelings for him have only grown in the past few weeks; it may have even turned to love. The joy he brought me was like none other and my stomach flutter whenever he brought his lips to mine. We hadn't actually started dating yet, mostly because it would have angered my father, so what was holding us back now?

"Hey, Kaoru, why haven't we moved this relationship any further?" I asked him.

He rubbed the back of his head, looking to be deep in thought.

"I'm not actually sure. What do you mean?"

"Why haven't we started dating yet?"

He just shrugged, but then smiled at me.

"Because I figured we already were. What do you want to make it public now?" he grinned mischeviously. He then cupped his hands to his mouth and called:

"Hey everyone! Lily wants everyone to know we've been dating!"

Something caught my attention just as he finished his statement. A kunai soared through the air and was aimed right for his heart. I was quick into action, grabbed the kunai, and threw it back in the direction it came. A man fell from a tree several feet away; cursing loudly.

"What was that?!" Kaoru cried.

"Wait here." I told him and ran over to the would be assassin. I had made careful precautions to only hit him in a leg, so that he couldn't run away and also so that he could answer why he attacked Kaoru. I grasped his shirt roughly and punched him really hard in the face.

"Who sent you?!" I snarled, slamming him hard into the tree. He tried to fumble for his weapons, but broke each hand before he could do anything more. His cries of anguish were incredibly loud and piercing, so much so that I had to punch him again to get him quiet.

"Now I am going to ask this again. Who sent you?!"

He shook his and I just continued to beat him. By that time, everyone had found their way over, even some of Honey-senpai's family.

"Lily, what is going on?!" Kaoru tried to come near me, but I gave him a look that made him back off.

"This man threw a kunai at you, Kaoru. I am trying to figure out why." I told him.

"It was Nobu Kitamura!" the man blurted out. "Now please let me go! I only did as he asked."

"Nobu?"

That name struck a chord of panic through me. I dropped the man, but could not stop shaking. He crawled away from me and I did not chase after him.

When I was younger, my father made it of habit of sending me out into the world and destroying mob districts and destroying the mobs themselves until there was nothing left. At that time, I had trouble determining what was right and wrong, so I was a ruthless, heartless child. I destroyed everything and everyone, as long as it made my father happy. The Kitamura clan happened to be one such mob clan that was on my destruction list…and they happened to be one of the most ruthless. I am not sure, to this day, how I was capable of such monstrosity, but it happened and the mob boss's son was still out there looking for revenge. I relayed this story to the group.

"I have endangered you all." I said to them, tears welling up in eyes. "Nobu will stop at nothing until you all are dead."

Everyone looked at me in great shock, like they never even heard of such a thing before. I even got some looks of fear from the Haninozuka family members.

"Your father did that to you?" Kaoru asked me, grasping my hand firmly.

I tried to not let the tears fall and only nodded.

"I swear, at the time, I didn't see anything wrong with it." I told them. "If I had known this would be the outcome, I would have never endangered you all."

"It's ok, Lily-chan. We know how to take care of ourselves." Honey-senpai smiled up at me. I gave him a small smile back, knowing fully well that the Haninozuka's could actually take care of themselves and anyone they cared about. My moment of relief was shattered moments later.

"Lily!" we all looked over to see my younger brother, battered and bruised, hobbling his way over the gate.

"Daichi!" my heart wrenched at the sight of him. I ran over to him and pulled him into my arms. Blood was seeping from his abdomen. "Somebody call for help!"

I tried to stop the bleeding, but it just kept flowing out. Everyone was on their cell phones, trying to call for help. Kyoya seemed to be on the phone with his family rather than the authorities and Kaoru raced to my side while everyone else took care of that.

"Who is this?" he asked me, while also applying pressure to his wound.

"This is my younger brother." I sniffled, the tears now trickling down. "Who did this to you?"

"It was *cough* N-n-n-obu. He was methodical and cruel; no one not even father could take him down." He had to take a deep breath before he could continue. "E-e-e-everyone is d-dead, Lil…y…"

His eyes glazed over and his head tilted to the side. What he said had a hard time registering in my mind. My whole family was dead? Instead of sadness, anger welled up inside me. Sure I had caused Nobu pain, but I had never killed innocent people. He was going to pay for what he did.

"Lily, are you ok?" Kaoru placed a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"Nobu will pay." I hissed under my breath and took off before anyone could react to what I said. I was so quick when I leaped over the gate, that no one could have really seen me. I scaled the rooftops, my eyes alert and senses high. Nobu, you will die tonight.

**Kaoru's P.O.V**

Before I knew it, Lily took off and was gone before anyone of us could say or do anything.

"What did she say to you?!" Hikaru clambered over to me.

"She said that Nobu will pay." I told him.

"She's going after him alone?!"

"I gathered up some information on the situation. It seems that Lily was telling the truth. Often, the Makutoshi clan sends their young to be tested by destroying different mob factions. Rarely anyone makes it out alive, so they only send the ones that they think are amiable fighters. Lily was the first to make it out alive and the first to come out of it with barely a scratch on her. However, she didn't kill innocent children or innocent people for that matter." Kyoya explained. "This Nobu might not stand a chance against her."

Lily…are you really that powerful?


	10. note to readers

I am sorry if my chapters seem a bit rushed lately. I have been extremely busy and have had little time to write. I will try and manage though and if you have any ideas or inputs I will take them into consideration :) Thanks for reading and thanks for all the nice reviews.


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